


Floodplain

by sterlinglee



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Bittersweet, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, post-Ring Battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 20:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1400719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sterlinglee/pseuds/sterlinglee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <br/><em>Sure, a part of him has always known that that’s what it means to have a kid. You’re only their whole world for a short time.</em>
</p>
<p>Yamamoto Tsuyoshi doesn't know quite what his son is fighting for, but when Takeshi comes staggering back from the first real battle of his life, he realizes that one of the few things he can control now is how he lets go.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Floodplain

_“Oh yeah, Dad. Did you want to know why I wanted to learn kendo in the first place?”  
“Hah! When I was your age, I took on the forms just like you. I think I have an idea of what you’re after. I won’t ask a boring question like that. Just work hard.”_

\-----

His boy comes back some time around midnight, breathing slowly and shallowly against the pain of his injuries, and Yamamoto Tsuyoshi’s world comes grinding to a halt. “Takeshi,” he says, and falls silent.

“Ah—hey, it’s not as bad as it looks, Dad. Really.” There’s expert bandage work on his shoulder, gauze carefully secured under a surgical eyepatch. Purple bruises show above his shirt collar, but the way he holds himself tells his father that he hasn’t come home in defeat.

Tsuyoshi’s…overheard things, not much that he understands to be honest, but for the moment he doesn’t care what “half rings” or any kind of jewelry have to do with anything. All his attention is on Takeshi’s face, and the intent, exhausted inward focus he sees there. It’s a familiar look. His own swordsmanship had its first real test when he was barely older than his son is now. That was when he learned what Shigure Soen Ryu could be. When he saw for the first time the endings it makes.

Maybe he’s been a chef for too long now, though, because there is no way he can carry on as usual when it’s _his son_ standing there, struggling to balance whatever ugly knowledge he’s gained tonight with the reasons he chose to fight in the first place. Takeshi shifts his weight and winces just a tiny bit. Tsuyoshi is a breath away from _who did this to you_ and maybe even _stay inside and lock the doors while I go and make them pay for it._

He stands up slowly—he’s been sitting by the door for the past three hours—and realizes that he’s furious. He takes deep breaths until he can trust himself to speak. Someone almost killed his boy tonight.

When he looked into Takeshi’s startlingly clear eyes and agreed to teach him how to fight, he knew he was letting go of something. He had almost convinced himself that he could make his peace with that. But is it really so selfish, to wish he could pull Takeshi back, even uncurl his fingers one by one from the hilt of the deadly thing he placed in his son’s hands? He thinks about that for a moment but knows it’s ridiculous. 

No one, not even him, can restrain Takeshi when he’s found his course.

The boy’s growing up, he tells himself. The boy’s got to go his own way now more than ever. He hasn’t been a little kid for a long time now, and, God, when had that happened? 

“You’d better not slack on dressing those wounds,” Tsuyoshi says gruffly, to cover his furious, fearful pride. “Tell me if you can’t reach the one on your shoulder. I’ll take care of it.”

“You got it. Thanks, Dad.” Takeshi’s hand is halfway to the eyepatch before he notices and drops it down to his side. He smiles, unselfconscious and warm—trying not to scare his old man. Tsuyoshi sees it, and realizes that he is not enough anymore.

Sure, a part of him has always known that that’s what it means to have a kid. You’re only their whole world for a short time. But he’d thought that maybe someday he’d be making long distance calls to his boy in the majors, or cheering for the team he coached. Instead, something in Takeshi is welling, flowing, the waters rising in preparation to make everything new. 

“Sorry I didn’t check in earlier, Dad,” he says, apologetic. “I’ll be better about it next time.” He pushes his hand through his damp hair, another easy smiling dawning on his face, and Tsuyoshi closes his eyes briefly.

His son will be a deluge of a man—impeccable, relentless, kindly and clear. He will overwhelm the landscape and reshape it. 

“There’s some curry in the fridge,” his father says. “Come sit in the kitchen if you’re not too tired. You’d better come in and eat.”

Takeshi follows him with a soft, relieved laugh; he knows his old man isn’t going to ask about the fight. He switches off the sitting room lamp as he leaves, padding steadily on bare feet despite his wounds. His father wraps a towel around his damp shoulders, and they sit in the pool of light that falls on the long kitchen counter. While they eat, the weather is shifting, and finally a soft, insistent rain begins to fall. 

Takeshi watches his father through half-closed eyes. At some point he sets his rice bowl down, bends forward very slowly, and goes to sleep on the counter like any other teenage boy at the end of a long day. The rain is gathering strength, drumming steadily against the roof and filling the gutters with its burbling rush. The wind is high tonight and Takeshi’s father knows this is the end of something safe and dear. But when it comes down to it, there’s only one question that applies here—and the answer’s never been in doubt. Of course he trusts his son.

He rests his elbows on the counter and tries not to think too much. After a few minutes, he gets up and goes to lay a clean bed for his boy, while outside the weather batters to get in.

**Author's Note:**

> You know what's not a good idea during midterms? Rereading a manga you got fed up with and left behind several years ago, and subsequently discovering that your Yamamoto Takeshi Situation has expanded with the approximate fucking energy of a red giant star on its way towards fiery death


End file.
